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Loading...Murder Trial of Chinese Politician’s Wife Lasts One Day
After one day, the trial of Gu Kailai, a once-prominent lawyer and wife of a formerly powerful politician, Bo Xilai, is over. Gu is accused of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood on November 13 in Chongqing, the southwestern Chinese city once run by her husband. Also on trial is Zhang Xiaojun, a family employee who is said to have assisted Gu in poisoning Heywood.
Heywood’s death was initially reported as due to a heart attack. But, after four months, Bo’s “right-hand man,” police chief Wang Lijun, sought refuge at a US consulate where he allegedly spoke of murder and a massive cover-up. Bo, who had been considered a likely contender for a top spot in China’s Communist Party at a time when it is preparing to install a new slate of leaders, was sacked from his post in March and is under investigation for unspecified “disciplinary violations.” He, his wife and Zhang have not been seen in public since their arrests in April.
Gu’s Trial Held Over 600 Miles From Where Heywood Was Killed
Two British diplomats were allowed to attend the trial but no foreign media were given access. The trial was not held in Chongqing or in Beijing; had it been held in China’s capital, it would have been a “high-profile political case,” as François Godement, a Chinese politics expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said to the Associated Press in the Guardian.
Instead, the trial was held in Hefei, a relatively obscure industrial city that is the capital of eastern Anhui province, which is 600 miles south of Beijing and even farther from Chongqing. Residents interviewed expressed ignorance of Gu’s identity or may have been wary of talking about the trial to foreigners. Legal analysts noted to the New York Times that at least three powerful figures have ties to Anhui province including the president of the Supreme People’s Court, Wang Shengjun, as well as President Hu Jintao and Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is a likely candidate for future premier.
Gu Was Last Seen In Public In April
Gu is said to have confessed to the charges against her and she and Zhang “did not raise objections to the facts and the charges of intentional homicide,” according to a statement read by court official Tang Yigan. The statement also said that Gu and Heywood were involved in a business dispute that “threatened the personal safety of her son… and [she] decided to kill him.” At the trial, the New York Times notes that a three-minute CCTV segment of Gu showed her smiling but that “her face appeared bloated, and a family member expressed shock, saying her appearance had changed dramatically since they had last met.”
Tang also said that Gu was “emotionally frail.” The report that she feared for the safety of her son, Bo Guagua — a recent graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard who had gained notoriety for his extravagant and pampered lifestyle, and whom Heywood had helped gain entrance into a British boarding school — could be a mitigating circumstance, meaning that she might not receive the death penalty.
Read more: bo xilai, china, communist-party, gu kailai, neil heywood
Photo by helga tawil souri
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37 comments
+ add your own@ Sian, proportionally atty. fees are still high, politics made the trial go faster not justice. Litigation is a popular sport all over the planet not just in the US although I think things could be more efficient.
I don't think things are fair in China however a good deal of the time I also don't think things are fair in the US. The game is just different.
One can presume she was not inconvenienced to much by having to travel the 600 miles.
Once again, a misleading title. When someone pleads guilty to a crime they are then NOT 'on trial'.
One day seems entirely adequate to me to deal with an explantion of the circumstances. Lawyers fees in China don't reach the astronomical heights of those in the USA, therefore lawyers aren't tempted to draw out hearings beyond the time necessary to provide the facts.
Was kindof rough on you guys, but got irritated.
Also thinking of some other postings on China I have seen, on other threads, that were cliche's.
Actually, I do approve of the postings here that mention, in various ways, that China isn't the ONLY place where mis-carriages of Justice can happen. Yes, we better look to our OWN backyard.
And, it is correct, that the picture is NOT the flag of China!
Oh, you think that "just any old flag of a commie country will do? I mean, it's commie and they're all alike?"
What I wuz sayin'.......!
I would guess that Gu Kailai might be taking the fall for someone else. Being a "mother" concerned about her son's safety, could be an excuse to show her "leniency" as well as buying the silence of everybody connected with the case. No executions, but complete silence as the price. Sortof win-win, if you look at it that way.
By the way, I am very disappointed in Care2 members who show what I'm sure they don't think of as RACISM against a very large group of people. When you say that a very large group of people are "all alike", when you demonize them and de-humanize them, then THAT IS RACIST AND DEPLORABLE.
"All" Chinese would sell out their own family members? that is not a form of HATE SPEECH?
Again, this is UNWORTHY of Care2 members.
Also, people are using all sorts of cliche's about Communism, communist societies, the Mysterious East, and crappola like that. You guys {you know who you are!}, you throw out a cliche', and you think you have delivered yourself of some profound Truth.
It would only take a few spare afternoons, to READ UP A BIT about this society you have blindly accepted all the easy Media cliche's about, and LEARN SOMETHING. Then put brain in gear before opening mouth.The world isn't black-and-white. Societies such as China are NUANCED, just like ours and anybody's is. Find out some FACTS about China in the twenty-first century. And don't take some Sunday preacher's word, either - they don't have a clue, themselves, and just because it's said in ch
Thanks for this great article
Intense
Personally, I'm always indebted to Steve for his posts.
I read what he says and then think the exact opposite.
Works every time.
And we are surprised by this news why?
Does Steve R. actually read the articles these days? The article is about the wife of a powerful politician poisoning a foreign businessman, getting it covered up and the Chinese communist party trying to save face. Nothing to do with American politics, no mention of Obama or Romney. It is a simple fact of life that the rule of law does not really apply in China especially in the ruling party. It may be a show trial but she is getting a lenient sentence most people would of had their pants tied off at the ankles and a bullet in the back of the head in front of the party faithful by now.
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